GreenPower Motor & Lithium Americas: 2 EV Stocks Amid Canada’s Green Push

Summary

• Canada’s way out of the COVID-19 pandemic is going to be "green", said PM Justin Trudeau recently.
• GreenPower Motor stocks are up a staggering 672 per cent year-to-date (YTD).
• The Lithium Americas’ stocks have climbed nearly 305 per cent YTD.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who's long advocated the renewable energy movement, recently said that Canada’s way out of the COVID-19 pandemic is going to be "green". 

Finance minister Chrystia Freeland urged all Canadians to start using green energy and make it more “inclusive”. The new green industry will also create more jobs, she added.

Across the border, the US state of California recently signed an executive order that will ban the sales of gasoline-fuelled cars by 2035. 

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the pandemic will cause the renewable electricity capacity generation to decline by 13 per cent year-over-year in 2020. While the green energy transition is underway, faster progress is the need of the hour, the international agency added.

On Thursday, October 15, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles agreed to invest C$ 1.5 billion in electrical vehicles (EVs) development in Canada as part of a tentative agreement with Unifor. This deal will help to create 9,000 local jobs. 

On the back of these developments, let us look at two Canadian EV Stocks: GreenPower Motor Company Inc (TSX:GPV) and Lithium Americas Corp (TSX:LAC).

GreenPower Motor Company Inc (TSXV:GPV)

Sector: Consumer Cyclical
Industry: Vehicles and Parts
Current Stock Price: C$ 13.15

Vancouver-based GreenPower Motor Company Inc is a manufacturer and distributor of all-electric vehicles such as schools and city transport. Its product line includes all-electric powered transit buses, schools, and shuttle buses. The company's buses operate on a custom battery management system and a commercial flex power system for the drive motors.

GPV Stock Performance 

GreenPower stocks are up a staggering 672 per cent year-to-date (YTD). The e-bus manufacturer’s share price has skyrocketed by approximately 800 per cent in the last six months. It’s current market capitalization is nearly C$ 287 million.

The company ranks among TMX Money’s Rising Stars stocklist, which is a list of TSX Venture (TSXV) shares with the largest price gains in the last three months. The company has also been placed on TMX’s stocklist of Micro and Small cap Consumer Goods companies on the TSXV.

This manufacturer of electric commercial vehicles raised US$ 37.2 million in an initial public offering (IPO) at the NASDAQ.

GPV Financial Performance 

The EV manufacturer reported revenue of C$ 13.5 million in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2020, an increase of 122 per cent compared to C$ 6.1 million for the previous year.

The company sold or leased record 68 all-electric buses by the end of the fiscal year, including 62 EV Stars, four Synapse Type D School e-buses and two EV350 low floor transport buses.

GreenPower finalized a partnership with Perrone Robotics for the development of autonomous driving facilities with the EV Star and Momentum Dynamics to develop the wireless charging product.

GreenPower ended the fiscal year with an inventory of C$ 6.6 million, including C$ 3.8 million of furnished goods and C$ 2.8 million of work in progress and accounts receivable of C$ 1 million.

The company’s line of credit with Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) increased from C$ 5 million to up to C$ 8 million.

Lithium Americas Corp. (TSX:LAC)

Sector: Basic Materials 

Industry: Metals and Mining 

Current Stock Price: C$ 16.84

Lithium Americas Corp is a Vancouver-based lithium mining company. It owns the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine project in Jujuy, Argentina, and the Thacker Pass lithium claystone project in the US state of Nevada. 

LAC’s Stock Performance

The Lithium Americas stocks are up nearly 305 per cent year-to-date (YTD). The lithium company’s stock price has surged almost 277 per cent in the last six months. The company's current market cap is C$ 1.53 billion. The company’s current price-to-book (P/B) ratio is 8.06, and the price-to-earnings ratio is 27.70, according to the TMX data. The return on equity (RoE) is 39.22 per cent, and the return on assets is 17.74 per cent. 

Lithium Americas ranks among TMX Money’s top price performer stocklist that ranks stocks on the TSX and TSXV with largest price gains in the last 30 days. The company has also been ranked on the top metals’ companies with the largest price gains in the last 30 days on the TSX and the TSXV.

Its 10-day average trading volume is 1.22 million.

LAC’s Financial Results

In the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the LAC reported a net loss of US $ 6 million, a dip of over 10 per cent from US$ 6.7 million in Q2 2019. The company ended the quarter with C$ 49.7 million cash and cash equivalents in hand.   

In the second quarter of 2020, the Caucharí-Olaroz Lithium Project was 47 per cent complete with US$ 427 million (75 per cent) of the planned capital expenditures committed including U$ 304 million (54 per cent) spent.